Donald Trump has delivered a chilling speech in which he encouraged army troops to boo California governor Gavin Newsom.
Trump and Newsom have been locked in a war of words in recent days amid the immigration raids protest in Los Angeles.
After a couple of days of unrest in downtown LA in protest against immigration raids in the city, Trump exacerbated the situation by sending the National Guard to try and quell the protests.
This prompted a furious reaction from Newsom, who accused Trump of acting illegally and carrying out an “assault” on democracy.
In a video message on Tuesday evening, Newsom said Trump’s “brazen abuse of power” had “inflamed a combustible situation putting our people, our officers and the National Guard at risk.”
Now, Trump has escalated his feud with the Democrat, by encouraging army troops to boo him during a speech.
On Tuesday, Trump was speaking to troops at Fort Bragg when he mentioned Newsom. He then encouraged troops to boo the governor, in a moment that has been labelled “chilling” and “scary” by some.
Commenting on the video, one person said: “The military isn’t supposed to be politicized. We’re way past that. Imagine soldiers booing a governor and mayor because they were in the other political party in like 2008. Wouldn’t happen. This is a different world.”
Someone else wrote: “First they booed their previous commander in chief and now they’re booing politicians who Trump doesn’t like. This is appalling and dangerous.”
A third commented: “Military leaders are going to have to do some damage control after this. I’m gobsmacked.”
Related: Kamala Harris predicted how Trump would use National Guard